Signaling device for road-vehicles.



0. 0. HALL. SI'GNALING DEVICE FOR ROAD VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 28,1914;

Patented Sept. 25, 191?.

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SIGNALING DEVICE FOR ROAD VEHICLES. APPLICATION men NOV. 28, 1914.

1 241 ,373. Patented $9 M. 25, 191?.

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CHARLES O. HALL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SIGNALING DEVICE FOR ROAD-VEHICLES.

Application filed November 28,1914- Serial-N0. 874,375.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES O. HALL, of the boroughof Manhattan, in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in'Signaling Devices for Road-Vehicles, of which the following is a full,iclear, and eX- act specification, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. I

As is well known to owners and operators of road vehicles, a fruitful source ofaccidents, particularly in places wherea large number of vehicles follow one after the driver of a vehicle following another, the intentionof the driver of the vehicle ahead, as to turning out, to the right or left, from the" general path of travel, or coming to a stop. Assuming that two or more vehicles are traveling in the same direction at the same rate of speed, and that the foremost oneof such vehicles is compelled by an obstacle ahead, unperceived by the driver of the vehicle following, to suddenly turn outor stop, the vehicle following is very likely, if fairly close to the vehicle ahead, to collide with the'same, causing damage to the vehicles, and injuring the occupants.

One of the objects, therefore, of my invention is to provide a signaling system readily controlled by the driver of a vehicle and capable of instantaneous action, whereby driversof vehicles following may be advised of the course intended to be taken by the vehicle ahead, for'example whether he will turn to the right or to the left or come to a stop. Thereby thedriver'of the vehicle following may have sufiicient notice to properly control his vehicle, and he in turn by a similar device may indicate to the drivers following him what he will do, and thereby eliminate to a considerable extent the danger incident to road travel at the present time.

Another object of my invention is to provide a signaling device which is more especially adapted for use upon automobiles, but its application is not limited thereto, as it may be used inconnection with other road vehicles as well.

Another object of my invention is to provide such a signaling device capable of ready and instantaneous operation by the driver of the vehicle.

Another object ofmy invention is to prois the lack of means to indicate to the application-to an automobile and which will be so constructed that its signalingor indicating partswill be observable in either daylight or darkness.

, Other objects ancillary-to the foregoing willbe readily apparent from the following "description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Figurel is a rear elevation of the device;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation from the right hand side-of the view shown in Fig. 1;

"Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1 in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. dis a vertical'section-online Fig.5 isan enlarged detail of one of the operating magnets and operating parts connected thereto; and,

Fig. 6 is-a diagrammatic view showing the wiring and other parts'of the-signaling system.

Referring to the construction illustrated A indicates in Whole, a signaling box comprising the side members B, C,the bottom a e of memberCD, the top member E, the rear in any suitable manner,'as for example by a bracket H secured tothe vehicle and'a bracket H secured to the signaling box, the

parts being held together by'the'set-screw H The side member C is provided with the usual'side light or l'ens- C and the front memberG with the tail light lens indicated at G. *The front member G may be hingedly mounted as at G G to afford access to: the interiorof the casing, and at the opposite SlClQ may be provided with any suitable form of fastening means as at G.

same, and while I show said lamp connected to the same source of electrical supply as that which furnishes the electrical current for operating the indicating parts to be.

. presently referred to, it will be understood that it may bev connected to a separate source of electrical supply. Secured to the side member C are aplurality of electromagnets J, K, and to the bottom member I) an electromagnet L, the means of fastening being immaterial so long as they are securely held in position, the fastening" means indicated herein being the screws L passing through the sides and bottom members and into a plate attached to the respective magnets. Each of these magnets is adapted to operate a signaling plate indicated at M, N, 0, respectively. The signaling plates will be preferably formed of some light material such as a thin sheet of mica, or the like, and will bear thereon an indicating letter or pointer, as shown for example in Fig. 3, wherein the arrow M points to the right hand; another of these indicating plates will bear an arrow pointing to the left hand, and the remaining indicating plate a letter S, as shown at N in Fig. 1. These indicat ing arrows or letters may be formed-0n the plates in any suitable manner but I preferably form them by painting the body or back ground of the plate an opaque black and theindicating letter or symbol thereon.

a translucent color, such as white so that the indicating letter or pointer may be readily discernible in the day time and permitting the transmission of light therethrough to make the same clearly discernible indarkness. be utilized to accomplish this result.

,As each of the indicating plates M, N, O, are similar in construction, as well as the means of operating the same, it is thought that a description of one will suffice for a description of all.

. Iteferring more particularly to Fig. 3,

wherein front and side views are, shown of the two indicating plates M, O, and their operating magnets, the indicating plate M isrigidlysecured to a shaft P rotatably carried by the brackets P, secured to the front member G. Keyed to the shaft P is a pinion P, the teethof which are adapted to be engaged and actuated by a rack P (see Fig. 5) one end of which rack has secured thereto an actuating lever P*, the opposite end of said lever P being pivotally mounted upon a bracket P secured to the casing C. Secured to one end of the lever P adjacent to thera ck P is a coiled spring P, the other end of said spring being secured to the bottom member D (see Fig- 41:). It will be observed that under the action of said spring,

and the shaft P in a direction .opposite to that indicated by the arrow in Fig. 5 and moving the indicating plate M into position to register with the tail light lens G.

In F ig. 6 is shown diagrammatically the electrical circuit for operating the signaling system. Each of the magnets J, K, L, is wired so that either one may be energized from the battery indicated at Q. Arranged close to the operator of the vehicle, for instance as shown at R, indicating the steer ing wheel of an automobile, is a switch plate indicated at S, provided with push buttons indicated at S, S S each of, which is adapted to close and open the circuit in which is included one of the magnets J, K L. o v 1 Conveniently mounted upon the casing of the signaling device, as upon the top member indicated at E, is anelectric signaling bell T, which will preferably be in the same electrical circuit as, and in series with the magnetsJ, K, L, and switch plate S, so that whenever one of the push buttons S,.S ,.S is actuated to energize one of the magnets J, K, L, the same electrical current-at the same time will actuate the electric bell T, to

attract attention to the directionindicators hereinbefore described. Any suitable means, however, may

It is thought that the operation of the device will be very clear from the foregoing description. However, if the driver 10f the automobile desires suddenly to make a turn to the right he pushes the button indicated for example at S thereby closing the circuit which includes the electromagnet J,

moving the actuating arm Pi into contact with the magnet J, thereby actuating the rack P and shaft P and moving the right hand pointer M into positionin front of the tail light lens G, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 4. As soon as the operator has resumed his general direction oftravel he releases the push button S breaking the electrical circuit, and under action of the springP, the arm M is retracted into its normal inoperative position, as shown in full lines in Fig. 4:. -'Ihe same operation will take place as to the other indicating arms N and O, by manipulating the respective buttons S, S as just described.

I wish it to be understood that I do not -confine myself to the precise details of conlli) struction and arrangement herein set forth, 13

as modification and variation may be made Without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. The combination With a plurality of indicating plates normally located in different planes, of means for moving said plates, one at a time, from said normal locations into a location common to all the plates, and electromagnetic means for operating said moving means.

2. The combination with a plurality of indicating plates normally located in different planes, of means for moving said plates, one at a time, from said normal locations into a location common to all the plates, electromagnetic means for operating said moving means, and means for returning said plates to normal location.

3. The combination With a plurality of indicating plates normally located in different planes, of means for moving said plates, one at a time, from said normal locations into a location common to all the plates and in a plane substantially at right angles to said firstplanes, electromagnetic means for operating said moving means, and automatic means adapted to be overcome by said electromagnetic means, for returning said plates to normal location.

CHAS. O. HALL. -Witnesses J. K. MACDONALD, GLADYS ESHER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. 0. 

